"Play Casemiro as a centre-back." Hmm, that hasn't aged well.

"Play Casemiro as a CB." God that aged poorly

I will answer you.. 1) he wanted FDJ, they couldn't get him. When they got hammered by Brentford, the board hurriedly signed Cassie. Not as a FDJ replacement but for them to play differently. David DG was asked to go long henceforth. 2) who are the ballers? Only Ericsson and Amad qualify as ballers on that bench. Amad is still adapting. Still will take his chances as they come. Ericsson has the brain but the legs are gone. One close marking and it is a one vs one with Onana. 3) it is nonsensical to say the best teams play the same way no matter who is fit. As an elite manager, you must be pragmatic in some games. Sir Alex lost 2 UCL finals becos he chose to go toe to toe with barca when he knew he didn't have the right weapons. How do you make of Tottenham's bench? The quality is way ahead that of united. How do you also make of Tottenham beating Aston 4 nil and going to lose 3 nil to Fulham the next game? In summary, it is a miracle for man u to still be alive in a competition and still 6th with all that ETH had had to handle this season. It is debatable if someone else would have done better. I feel sad that diligent and progressive hard work is undervalued. Look at the disrespect Xavi is getting after cleaning up barca mess? If you guys keep listening to crooked Coach agents looking for jobs for their average clients, you will wake up too late to realize they've done you dirty. Just like some are calling for Ole to return. And the team starts from 0 again. ETH is still the man

If 6 of your out field players fail to make a simple 5yard pass Consistently u would never see a style

Can't wait for the: I Watched All Of Man Utd's shots conceded Under Erik Ten Hag And Here’s What I Found… video coming 2035

47 injuries in 28 prem games may have something to do with it 🤔

Hi Dave, While your analysis of the 3 games (United, Arsenal & City vs Sheffield United) is great, I think it is a bit naive of you and other United analysts to always skip the fact that we are missing KEY players for United's system to work. In the game you analyzed, United was missing 11 players through injuries, 7 of whom would have played the game. The game in January against West Ham would have been a better game to compare where United had almost all players available. Ange is doing a similar job ETH did last season but ETH outperforming him in points, number of time spent in the top 4 and trophies won. We are missing key players, ETH is a manager who needs specialists in his team, and we see gaps in the midfield because of the profile of players in the backline not having pace leading to no pressing and gaps due to the CBs dropping deeper. Arteta had one injury last season (Saliba) and their footballing ability dropped leading to City winning the league, Klopp lost VVD for a season and they finished 6th, and Pep lost Rdori for 3 games and lost all 3 games. ETH is missing between 7-10 players every game and you want his style to remain the same? C'mon, Dave!

15:06 is actually a good decision. No need to switch if you can skip the whole defense. The problem in this particular case is the individual quality. The pass must be immediate and accurate. The receiver must be fast and able to control the ball perfectly. This was what Ajax did and they've used to surprise every team. Just doing what is considered unlikely to be done. Breaking the model of play. Doing it very fast. Catching the opponent unprepared. The problem here is those players aren't a team. They couldn't do the ordinary. There is a long way before applying this model into a club that still haven't got the basics.

Playing Casemiro as a CB comment aged like milk.

We can't camp in the opposition half with Maguire or Evans at CB and Lindelof at full back. 1 ball over there heads and the opposition scores a goal.

"Move Casemiro to centre back" how's that going mate? Good solution bro 👍🏾

I think a major problem Ten Hag has had is the ability to move players on. Maguire was sold but still stayed and apparently Mctomiany was allowed to make his own decision if he stayed or left. Hiw can you rebuild a club if you can't move Players on ?

The big problem is our second 11 is championship level, well the first 11 usn't that great either. Losing Martinez and shaw has been huge, especially Martinez. Casemiro's level hasdropped massively and he doesn't have the legs any more. As Ralf said, the squad needs a massive overhaul. Pretty much there are only about 5 or 6 players that the team and squad should be built around, the rest need to be replaced. It will take at least another 4 transfer windows to sort the mess out

Play more ball players in midfield Statman says. More ball players in the squad i exhaust my eyes looking for. At this point any analysis is a waste of time. The lack of quality in the squad is evident, ten Hag, a coach who built his career on ball playing principles has not suddenly forgotten the principles, he is simply suddenly landed in a club that lacks a squad capable of doing it, very few players who are actually capable of doing it at high enough level consistently. The answer will be replacing ageing defence and deep lying midfield with young potential, yes potential, because United is financially hamstrung, we will need some years to fix the squad, ten Hag will need time, and fans will need to understand that the squad will not be consistently champions league side in this process. Also, i have a simple question Dave, can you see any of the managers you mentioned in the end, be able to implement their ways with Varane, Maguire, Casemiro, Lindelof and Evans as the combination of players in the base of the defence?

The biggest difference from last season is that Ten Hag hasn't been able to play with a defensive high line. He cannot do that without the pace of Martinez and Shaw. Maguire, Lindelof, Evans and Amrabat don't have pace, so we have to defend much deeper.

United need to buy at least two centerbacks this summer who are fast and ballplaying this would make ETH job so much easier. united biggest defensive problem is most of the center backs are slow and like playing in a low block {apart from martinez} leaving huge space in midfield

Let me guess, all those goals are randomly scored and nobody has any idea what's going on.

When Ten Hag put Weghorst in the 10 vs Barca in the nou camp UTD looked very dangerous. Their link up play through the middle was sharp, bringing the wingers and dlp into the game. Had a positive impact on pressing structure as rashford pressing centrally hides his reluctance to track back. Would love to see UTD in a 2-1-4-3 build up structure like De Zerbi has at Brighton next season. As you mentioned having a rcb, cdm and wing back would facilitate that structure well

That's a lot of research. Kudos!

I think you're right that Fernandes needs to be pulled back from the '10' role and do more of what Eriksen did for us last season as an RPM and/or Casemiro dropping between our CBs as a halfback. Mount (if he can stay fit) should fulfill the 10 role - it might be his only chance at playing his way back into the England setup. We desperately need reinforcements at centreback who can play in a high line, depending on who goes this summer it may be worth also investing in another left-footer with Martinez and Shaw being out injured so frequently.

Disagree with a couple of points here. One of the reasons why Brighton, Tottenham and Aston Villa have been able to stay consistent in their styles is because of many years of focused recruitment and sporting direction. All of their players can come in and still contribute to the gameplan. For united however, two thirds of the squad simply aren't cut out for it since we've basically had Ole and Jose as our previous two sporting directors, two managers with completely different philosophies to ten hag. When these players are forced to play because of the numerous injuries in key areas, this lack of stylistic depth in the playing staff becomes more apparent. The squad has much more quality than the ones mentioned, but not in terms of suiting the style of play! The other point that I disagree with is this idea that ten hag wants to play direct and wants to play counter attacking football. I believe that is the case for this season, but definitely not as a long term goal as it is made out to be. Currently it's a necessity because of the playing staff, or we'd get nowhere near as good results as the already terrible ones, and he could quite possibly have been out the door already. I feel looking at how the u18s play as an idea of what ten hag wants from the team is hugely relevant! When he came, one of the first things he did was to ensure that all of the youth teams play the exact same way that he wants them to, so they're ready when the time comes. The u18s are much more moldable, and the results aren't anywhere near as important as the first team results, even though they have been doing much better, so the compromise in playing style there hasn't been necessary. I definitely agree that this season hasn't been good enough, but I do believe it's mostly an awkward phase that will be over once about ten players leave, and five or six of the right players join, which will lead to an injury crisis like this season not nearly having as great of an impact on our stylistic approach.

Have you ever seen rashford win any header, a player who will not attempt any chance to win a header.

At the start of this season, EtH actually said he wants United to play very direct. It seems like during the summer, he changed his mind about wanting United play like his Ajax. He's probably convinced the players aren't good enough after first hand observation the whole season. They're tactically hopeless so the best way is let them play off the cuff football.

ETH have had to adjust a lot due to unusually many injuries and so being restricted in shaping a consistent style IMHO.

Fred and Weghorst actually played crucial role last season, they should have keep Fred at least instead of Mctominay. As a holding forward Weghorst played a pivotal role in Rashford form as well.

Well thought out and researched. Very persuasive!

This season is about the injuries. Very few managers can do much with such a mish mash of players from previous eras and constant turnstile of players in and out

Bruno mate he is the one who likes to play direct, it need 2 holding midfielders/box to box players for the way bruno played, bruno is not like erikson type of player who likes building from the back, control the ball for possesion. he likes to play direct counter attacking game where he thrived. for MU to succed in midfield is Play Mainoo in a role he thrived on his debut as a number 8. after england debut mainoo often used as a box to box lately. and doesnt control the game so well like he used to when his debut

Great video Dave. So frustrating how little the media talks about our injuries but we are told every week how Liverpool, Newcastle and Spurs are struggling with injuries

Kobbie's goal against wolves shouldnt be used as evidence that he can play in the final third. He is much better as the defensive midfielder. Also, Bruno shouldnt be played deeper because he loses ball wayyy too often. Another problem with having another player in midfield is that it will make the team vulnerable against teams like Liverpool, that has 3 strong and pacey forwards. We already have a slow defense.

Ten Hag relies too much on individual brilliance Which is why injuries have killed this team

I was expecting Mainoo to play the Eriksen role as the deep lying mid cos hes press resistant, can run with the ball and plays the ball forwarf very well. Casa should play further forward alowing him to gamble on pinching thr ball high up.

18:04 casemiro as a cb 🤡 hahaha

Good video Dave. I see these artificially generated counter attacks though - which we haven't too many goals from but is clearly intentional - drawing the press and then counter attacking. I watched your Ajax videos and I didn't see how ETH can move away from being transitional with these players.

I always thought ten hag just doesnt have the players to play how he wants to

You can feel Dave's anger when he talks about tenhag's tactics😂

In the Defence of ETH, it's hard to assert a style of play when your players are getting injured. You might practice the whole week to have amrabat to play in midfield. He has trained for that, then all of a sudden, Shaw is out with an injury, making him use amrabat on LeftBack. Our academy isn't showing signs of development ecen when we've debuted a lot of starters. A left back is needed. As im talking right now. Casemiro will miss the liverpool match because of injury

Lisandro mount Mainoo Amrabat Shaw Malacia Hoijlund Awb are all ball player but have you seen them this season?? Everyone I've mentioned are ball players but have been out injured and some are still out injured these players will make a massive difference to how utd play but have been unavailable for selection

I think playing Mainoo was the plan all along. Watch eth’s interview on the bbc a couple of weeks ago. Injuries has derailed this season big time. Just like they did to Liverpool last year. This team has a lot of growth in it with the right players coming in, in the next couple summer windows.

Think you'll find that when you only have two creative threats, and one of them being the GK, it's really hard to get any sort of attacking flow. All opponents have to do is to frustrate Bruno Fernandes and he takes himself out of games, alternatively they can just man mark him with a shadow on Bruno's back. Then the only threat comes from Onana long balls to Rashford and Garnacho, both of whom will try to take on their defender and finish from impossible angles. Meaning the long balls from Onana will be pointless against many teams who will sit deep and then counter back at us, which is also very easy with Evans and Maguire being among the slowest defenders in the league.

Leverkusen have players with similar profile even with their second team. United have players signed by four different managers all having different profiles. Injuries affect a team like united more than it affects a team like leverkusen.

Why doesn't Ten Hag grab a shirt, a pair of shorts and bring himself on ? He knows Ten Hag-ball better than anyone in the world, speaks English fluently, knows the league now and most of all, he has a valid work permit.

Hiya Dave can you possible do a video on Hansi Flick and Barcelona as he is the favourite to take over and look at is formations,tactics and possible signings.

Great content. Just a quick suggestion, maybe use a compressor to equalize the volume levels across the whole video. That way there will be no spikes.

TOTALLY AGREE!!!! (Didn't know the stats, of course) up to 25min But re alt plans a "we LOVE to pass" attitude in addition to the flying wingers approach in possession, but this might have been what your were saying anyway...more ball players And, at the back, cover for Martinez too - I just don' trust his consistent fitness, AND for the Central two strikers - see the Hojlund injury,

Eriksen was class last season, shame he hasn’t had a sniff this season

I love your content, would be nice to see you go into actual coaching methods too. Yes you've identified what's missing now show us what he can do in practice on the training pitch to bring it to life. Call it Assistant Coach Dave or something

I don't think he directly answered the question in the title. Also all the people alluding to injuries as an excuse - even the man himself says that while having injuries has disrupted the team, it's not an excuse. if he himself says so, what's the point of making it for him?

I think united need to switch to a back three and will help a lot in the attacking phase and can reduce the amount of spaces left behind in midfield and avoiding being countered

Fast answer. MU is 17 points behind the premier league leader, while having champion ambition. Thus, no. My pleasure.

We miss Fred

please do a video on JOSHUA ZIRKZEE of bologna!!! he has got the harry kane qualities in him!!! he can be a really good pair with hojlund!!! he can also be running the team if bruno is out or something. i think with him we can even go to the fergie 442 system.

You've totally missed the main reason why we've not scored many goals this season, which makes me wonder if you watch the matches properly.

Casemiro?!?! centerback?!? Dam😖

Do you reckon Hojlund is yet showing the quality when he's deeper, back to goal at this moment to be enough of a good foil for Rashford?

can confirm CB casemiro aint it

eyo this guy kinda looks like Mingolet

Well United seem to do well when Licha and Shaw are there because having 2 left footed players clearly help United in the build up and majority of this season they have missed that, it adds so much to the game..

Lack of control in the midfield is why we get out played and why our midfield dont create for our strikers

Ten Hag has shown his poor quality in in-game reading, bad at subs, he caused players training to fatigue, injury has paid off, he would be fired at the end of season

Varane and Casemiro really hurt our ability to play from the back too. We lose the ball so many times in the midfield whilst our players are too high up the pitch and thats why we are so vulnerable especially because there’s poor coordination between our defense and midfield. Once we fail to counterpress in midfield it leaves a huge gap between defense and attack. For me 2 problems, 1. The squad we have might be incapable of playing the way Ten Hag wants 2. Injuries have really hurt us this season and because we have a poorly assembled squad it has been difficult for the manager to find solutions 3. There might be some obvious coaching issues too

There are players who make the team play good without the statistics. If you perform to your maximum, if you perform to your best and you helped your team-mates and make the process better, it is enough. Ten Hag never changed, only the players ability to keep the ball, especially those in front, the ones playing for stats instead of the team

Signing these new players makes no sense if ten hag is still the manager

Yes the coaching is the problem. Most of the focus is on attacking play so there are more players going forward and pressing high up but no one is actually making those defensive overlaps. Plus our LB & RB plays more like attacking wingers and they don’t stay wide for some reason. Which leaves holes in the defense. Creates chances from the wings for opponents and when our defenders are dragged to the wings it creates spaces through the middle

18:03 Well he did use Casemiro as a centre back against palace and they got bummed 4-0 😅 could have been more. He was dreadful.

1. Maguire, Evans, Lindelof and Varane aren’t fast enough to push up and back up the press hence Casemiro being left in acres of space for the opps to attack 2. Their is a significant lack of depth in the squad given by the fact that we have 2 u23 players holding down starting berths in the team. A lot of ghost workers like Martial, Sancho and Antony need to be shifted. 3. Injuries. Martinez, Shaw, Mount and Malacia could have done wonders for our form 4. Underperforming players like Rashford who see Mbappe anytime he sees himself in the mirror but won’t be picked if we had replacement and Eriksen who seems to have lost his legs

He doesn't have the players to do what he wants but he should have known this and adapted the style to suit until he does. He went went for a ball playing GK when he should have focused on the outfield more as although De Gea may not have been what he once one he was not the most pressing concern. Casemiro and Varine should never have been signed too old and slow for the league. The midfield is a huge issue it is not working and they end outnumbered with a player passed his best as the main man but he is out of position most of the time with no pace to get back. ETH is continuing to make poor substitutions also and he stuck with players too long I.e. Amad seems like a decent option but left on the bench. He is too stuck in his mindset

Am absolutely loving reading the comments. Isn't football derisive? Everyone is an expert. Everyone is certain that they are correct. Everyone else is wrong. I think EtH has been let down by the quality in his squad, but has also made a lot of weird decisions. I still cant get my head around why Mount was his number 1 transfer priority.

Yes Dave! 🎉 Love it!!

The defenders can only really play a low block, the attackers don’t press consistently, the midfielders struggle in possession and to cover lots of space. So we should play deep and hit teams on the break. But that style will get ETH criticised for not changing the style of play like he started last season. How about a video on what tactical changes you’d make right now to prevent ETH getting sacked rather than talking about new signings?

If this is an audition for Ten Hag it’s going terribly. I think the situation is untenable now and it’s inevitable ETH will be sacked. Some of the candidates as his replacement is definitely take but I’d love to see Marco Rose at Leipzig considered. I think he’s an amazing coach that plays a 4-2-3-1 that would suit Man Utd and would work perfectly as a coach under a Wilcox/Ashworth regime

The new flying left wing back should be Antony. Good defensive stats, poor attacking output. Make him the new Valencia, Young, Dalot etc.

United have only one striker who was out of form with a team who can't supply ball. Erickson injured now to slow. To many injuries older player's unable to keep up with Premier league.

Erik Ten Hag deserves a chance to work with competent people around him.

mainoo seems good, but he does not have quality of eriksens master passes

I feel like martinez has been the missing link more than any other player in our team

I still feel that signing Hojlund was the worng signing. Positional sense that is. If we have a goalscorer the thing we need to do is to compliment him or to have someone cover for him in his absence. A player like Fellaini is required especially with players like Garnacho, Rashford and Antony all 3 who fancy scoring than assisting. I like Hojlund but we needed something else.

Well done! 7:59 . Send your CV to Carrington Road?

Buy a new left centre back plus a ned cdm n also transform lisandro martinez to a cdm bring back greenwood plus a backup striker , lets say braithwaite, alan varella,p.neto,

I've always thought of the best midfield trio as Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta, is it too simple to use them as a template to fit players with similiar (although most likely inferior) skillsets? If replacing Fernandes is not the answer, changing his position to free up space to try something new could be.

That’s a redundant question. He’s a good manager. I don’t need to watch the video to know it. Who else would have coped better at the current United with all the associated problems? But I understand that you need to make engaging content, hence the title.

He needs to play 4-4-2 instead of emptying the midfield

Hello statman Dave please, who do you think is gonna be the best partner for Kobbie Mainoo in our Midfield for years to come. Neves, Javi Guerra, I think Jobe Bellingham is also a good option. Looking to hear from you!

the answer is: Yes. he's not great at selecting players, but he is a damn good coach.

I think you're really understating the impact the injuries we have. Only Liverpool i think has as many injuries as us or close to. Other teams you've mentioned didn't have as many players out as we do, especially long term injuries

Statman is an apt name because Dave is very good with stats. Unfortunately he's piss poor when it comes to analysis of game plans or coming up with tactical solutions.

Stat man Dave 👍👍

If Brighton are the best at everything they do…then i have 1 question. Whats the position of Brighton on the EPL table ?

You need to put out more manchester united videos

Imagine having Evans in 2024.... I don't care if he's trying.... Martial still at the club, Eriksen can't even play 50 mins in a game.

The problem with bruno playing deeper is he doesnt seen to keep d ball well dis season ....hes reminding me of pogba ..anyti.e dey lose the ball there we concede

The medical team is questionable. Also players getting injured then coming back a few days later is questionable

Good video.❤

6th place is better than 8th under Ole. We have a weak scoring offense with a kick-butt defense. More high-assist midfielders needed.

ETH has not got the midfield to compete. ETH didn't even want Casemiro who is too slow and can't play in ETH's preferred system. ETH wanted FDJ perfect for his system. Eriksen and Bruno are both too slow and physically weak. The only midfield players worth keeping are Mainoo and Mount (who hasn't really had a chance yet) Casemiro, Eriksen and Bruno all need to go. They get embarrassed every game it doesn't work.Bruno is too far forward leaving United in a 4-2-4. The only way Bruno stays if ETH plays him behind 2 strikers in a 4-3-1-2. Bruno is like Zola, he's not a midfielder. Would you play Zola in midfield in todays PL where every player is an athlete? THE MIDFIELD IS THE PROBLEM United don't have one.

If you have so many injuries you cannot use your best tactics

Just look at the AVERAGE NUMBER OF PLAYERS teams like City, Liverpool, and Arsenal had in the FINAL THIRD, when scoring those goals shown in this podcast: EIGHT!!! On ONE occasion, United had seven! The rest of the time: 4 at best! Conclusion? less choices to pass to! Consequently, those choices are outnumbered by defenders - especially with United's classic half-hour build-up into an attack. It doesn't take any more genius assessment than that! MORE PLAYERS IN THE FINAL THIRD! DO IT!

1:00 sole holding midfielder is not a “6” they are called a “5”. Everyone says we need a 6/8 hybrid to replace Casemiro. No we need a “5” that can play as a CB as well.

Please take this video to ETH and his coaching staff

It's not a problem of playing style. It's a problem of perception. The media and pundits have been trying to get Ten Hag sacked since he came. Even after 10 wins, two losses and one draw last 13 this year, Luckhurst and the likes tries to get him sacked. Stick by Ten Hag. He is the best guy we could have. The fact that names like Potter and Southgate shows up tells you all you need to know.